A Little Haunting and Hunting
by stargazer100
Summary: Sam and Dean decide to set up camp in an old farmhouse that is said to be haunted, but find things are not always what they seem.
1. Chapter 1

** _Sam and Dean decide to set up camp in an old farmhouse that is said to be haunted, but find things are not always what they seem**_

 _**This is a contest entry for nightmares06. It's a one shot using her Brother's Apart AU and an OC of my own.**_

It was evening when the Winchester brothers pulled up to the deserted farmhouse. It was towards the edge of town in the countryside, unseen from the road, tucked away in the woods surrounding it. The long dirt driveway diverting from the main road was mostly hidden, but the rusty mailbox leaning slightly to the left clued them in that they had found it.

The brothers were in between cases and were passing through town when they decided to stop and eat supper at the diner here before getting a room at a motel for the night. Their plans changed when they overheard a group of teens making future plans to spend the night at a haunted house nearby. This had prompted Dean to ask them some questions while Sam listened in his pocket, getting the information they needed in order to come here tonight.

Dean shut of the engine and pocketed the keys, careful not to jolt the shoulder Sam was now perched on. "Well, not much of a case really, but it's something," Dean said, turning his head slightly towards where Sam sat. He couldn't see him at this angle, but the slight shifts Sam made let him know he was there.

"Those kids didn't seem to have that much information about it," Sam replied, holding onto the collar of Dean's jacket to steady himself as Dean reached to the backseat to gather his duffle bag. "I think it's more of a ghost story the local teens tell to scare each other than the real deal."

"Same here," Dean grunted, pulling the duffle bag over to the front seat. He popped the trunk and slid out of the car, heading over to add more items to the bag. "No deaths besides the previous owner about a month or two ago- and even that was just from old age so it's not very significant. Just the occasional scare from scratching noises, flickering lights, and that one kid said someone heard, moaning?" He frowned down at the weapons in the trunk, trying to decide which ones they would need. He grabbed the shotgun loaded with salt rounds, the EMF, a bag of salt, and a few other items just in case.

Sam watched thoughtfully as Dean made his selection. "Which could all be from overactive imaginations." He added. He wasn't sure how helpful he would be if this was a ghost case…It was mostly your basic salt and burn gig, and Sam hated the thought that Dean might have to do all the work. He sighed, as usual his size left him at a disadvantage in cases like these, but he'd find a way to help.

"Probably. But I'm glad we're checking it out just in case. I'd hate to have some stupid kid on a dare die at a place we passed up because it didn't sound legit enough." He slammed the lid of the trunk down. "And hey, it's a free place to stay," He joked, slightly bumping his shoulder up to tease Sam, smirking when he felt a light punch on his neck in return.

Sam flinched slightly at the sound of the trunk being shut but recovered just in time to be shaken by his brother's movement. He steadied himself and gave Dean's neck a punch. "Jerk," He said before getting more comfortable.

"Bitch," Dean replied without hesitation. He zipped up the duffle bag and hoisted it up. "Ready?" He asked Sam.

"Yeah," Sam replied while adjusting his bag so it would hang more comfortably on his shoulder. "Let's go ghost hunting."

At that Dean walked around the impala and towards the front porch. The sun was low in the sky but they could still see around fine. The wooden stairs creaked under Dean's weight as he made his way up them, pausing to take in their surroundings before opening the door. The hinges creaked loudly when Dean finally got it open with a little extra pressure, and then they were in the house.

Dust motes floated lazily around them in the stale air. The house definitely had an eerie feeling to it, as most forgotten places tend to have. After a quick scan, Dean trudged over to the kitchen table and laid his duffle bag on top. Sam took the opportunity to quickly scale down his brothers arm to get to the table himself.

Dean stiffened slightly when he felt Sam moving, not wanting to throw him off as he made the decent to the table. Once Sam had made it, Dean unzipped the duffle bag and started unpacking the necessities.

Sam glanced around, noticing it was getting darker. He walked towards the duffle bag, kicking up a thick layer of dust as he went. This was definitely going to coat his clothes. He held in a sneeze. "So what's the game plan?" He asked, eyes watering.

Dean looked over at Sam, "First I need to figure out how to get the lights on. Then we can do a check of the house to see if there's any spooky ghost energy." He paused to pat his jean pockets in search of something. "I got something…" Dean rummaged around in a pocket before producing a small salt packet he had nabbed at the diner. "Here," He held it out to Sam, "this is for you. If anything goes wrong-"

"I know, make a salt circle." He took the salt packet from Dean's pinched fingers with two hands. Although it was smaller than a sugar packet it would awkward for him to carry around, but it would come in handy if he was separated from Dean and anything came up. He checked it over, noticing that ripping it open would be fairly easy when needed; this was a good idea. "Thanks, Dean." Sam said up to his brother.

"No problem," he grunted back, rechecking everything they had. "Now we just need to find out if this place is really haunted."

As if on cue, the lights came on, momentarily startling the brothers before their instincts went on high alert. Sam gripped his salt packet and Dean grabbed for his gun, his left hand protectively coming close to Sam just in case. They both stiffened, waiting.

The lights flickered, once, twice, before finally going out again, leaving only the setting sun to light the room again.

After a minute of silence, nothing else happened. Sam pushed Dean's hand away from him so he could see around better without it blocking his view. "Well, I guess that answers that question." He muttered loud enough for Dean to hear.

"Right." Dean stated, voice low. He frowned at the space around them, intense green eyes searching for any tiny hint of danger before obliging to move his hand all the way away from Sam. "Let's have a look around then," he said while picking up the EMF in his left hand, keeping the shotgun loaded with salt rounds ready in his right.

Sam climbed back up to Dean's shoulder. It was a more difficult climb now that Sam had the salt packet in one hand, but he made it up safely. Not that he had any reason to worry about falling when he was around Dean, whose lightning fast reflexes would be at the ready if Sam ever had a misstep, but that was something both brothers didn't want to test out again.

"Ready," He chimed once he was stationed next to Dean's neck.

"Alright, let's see…" Dean held up the EMF, watching the dial and listening to the light squawking noise it made as it checked for ghost hot spots.

They searched the whole downstairs, but there was no sign of ghost activity. "Odd." Dean muttered, furrowing his brow.

"The air didn't get cold when the lights flickered either," Sam said thoughtfully, thinking back to earlier.

"You're right…" Dean checked the EMF again, still nothing. "Let's check upstairs then." He made his way up the stairs, ascending carefully. He was a huge human, but years of hunter training taught him how to move smooth and soundlessly. "It could just be faulty wiring or something, but until we stake out the whole place, we need to stay on alert."

Once they reached the second landing Dean did another EMF sweep around by the stairs, still not getting any readings. He grumbled in frustration at the lack of progress.

"Let's split up," Sam piped up from where he sat. "I'll go through the walls and see if I can find anything, and you can search the rest of the rooms."

"What? No." Dean replied hastily. His brother was an adult and could hold his own, but he couldn't help thinking back to when they split up that other time and the fire sprites had attacked. He almost hadn't made it in time when Sam was escaping Ilyana. He almost got hurt, on Dean's watch. He couldn't stand the thought of something like that happening again. "We don't know what we're dealing with here, it might be nothing, but we can't be so sure yet."

"It's okay," Sam said reassuringly. He was used to his brother's overprotectiveness, he could be extremely stubborn, but he knew Dean would never keep him anywhere against his will. "I have my salt packet, remember? I know what to do. Besides, I'm feeling restless here." He didn't want to say that he was feeling unhelpful too, he wanted to be _doing_ something, and checking for any clues in the walls was a way he could contribute.

Dean sighed, unhappily giving in to his brother's request. "Fine." He grunted, squatting down and extending his arm so Sam could climb to the floor. "Just…Be careful, okay?"

"Always am." Sam replied once he was ground level with Dean's boots. He shuffled backwards when Dean stood up to his full height and cast a worried look down at his brother. Seeing Dean from this perspective was always unnerving for Sam, he was just so _big,_ even after all this time together it was still hard to wrap his brain around. He pushed his nerves down and gave a reassuring smile back up at Dean, Dean who would never do anything to hurt Sam, ever. He gave a little salute and turned away, jogging towards the wall across from him, looking for an entrance.

Dean watched as his brother made his way over to the wall, eventually slipping in through an entry Dean hadn't even noticed. He let out another sigh and checked the EMF again. He had to admit it was a good plan if they wanted to cover more ground. Sam was really good at finding small, important clues that Dean would've missed if he was on his own. He just wished he could go with Sam for backup, but of course, he had a size disadvantage when it came to Sam's world.

He watched the dial as he made his way into a bigger bedroom, still not getting anything. The room was even dustier and staler than downstairs, if that was even possible. He doubted that the woman who lived here had been able to come up the stairs at her old age, so this floor had been forgotten. A comforter that smelled of cotton balls lay over a queen size bed that was set against the left wall, a closet was at its foot. Worn furniture had white sheets hanging over them to help preserve them from the thick dust that coated everything.

The natural lighting was only dimly making its way through the window, so Dean checked the light switch to see if it happened to be working, and was surprised to find it did. As light flooded the area Dean heard a squeak of surprise coming from the right side of the room. With hunter instincts on high Dean swiveled quickly to face where the noise had come from, shotgun raised at the ready. A small shadow dashed along the baseboard of the wall, Dean darted towards it.

The shadow kept running but Dean was upon it instantly, his long strides taking him across the room in no time. He crashed down onto his knees, casting the EMF and shotgun to the side to free his hands. The figure came more into view as it tripped, finding itself in the corner of the walls. Suddenly Dean stopped abruptly, registering exactly what he was chasing.


	2. Chapter 2

Em had stiffened when she heard the engine of a car pulling up to the house this evening, but by now she was used to the occasional visit from a nosy human looking for a scare. She had instantly gone into her 'haunting' mode, eager to get them going on their way so she could be left in peace again. Everything had seemed to be going well, but she never would've guessed that this human wouldn't be so easily frightened off.

She had gone upstairs to the master bedroom by making her way through the walls quietly so she wouldn't give herself away. She wanted to get to the specific vent that lay under the desk because it was perfect for the echo-y groans she had become an expert at producing. That was her favorite part of 'haunting' mode, she loved hearing the squawks of fear from the humans below as they imagined that a ghost was coming to get them.

But her plan had gone horribly, horribly wrong.

She must have let her guard down because she wasn't even expecting it when light suddenly filled the room, leaving her exposed out in the open by the baseboard. She squeaked in surprise, making a dash for some cover, her eyes still adjusting to the sudden change of light.

She felt the earthquake like vibrations through the floor as the human (how could she have let her guard down and missed a _human_?!) lunged for her. Long, powerful legs carried him upon her in seconds, making her stomach drop, knowing she couldn't hope to get away in time. Em had dark spots in her vision and she tripped as the human came crashing down beside her. She let out a cry as she twisted her ankle, falling into the corner of the room, effectively trapped.

She huddled in the corner, keeping her weight off her left foot, as a huge shadow fell over her. She shut her eyes and threw her arms over her head, waiting to feel the crushing hands around her.

* * *

Once Sam had made it into the walls he unsheathed his knife to have it at the ready in case he came upon anything particularly nasty, supernatural _or_ rat-wise. Sam couldn't help but feel slightly relaxed from being inside the walls, it had been safety to him for years before he and Dean had found each other. Being out in the open had always been slightly unsettling because everything loomed over him and made him feel exposed, but he had gotten used to it. Besides, being with Dean was worth it.

As he was making his trek he couldn't help noticing that the pathways through the walls seemed used. Recently. He stopped and frowned in thought at the tiny signs that gave away the existence of someone like him. 'Someone must've lived here before the old woman died,' Sam thought. 'But they didn't leave because this path is obviously still being used.' This person, (or people, Sam wasn't sure how many were living here,) could have some information about this so-called ghost they were after. If he kept searching maybe he could find them, it would be nice to talk to someone his size again.

Suddenly Sam heard a large crash that shook the floorboards under him. He stiffened. It sounded like it came from one of the rooms further back where Dean had headed. Was he in trouble? Sam's heart sped up in worry as he hastily switched directions in the wall and headed towards the room the noise had come from.

* * *

Dean's heart fell when he realized he was chasing a little person like Sam. The girl could only be about three inches, and she was completely terrified, because of him. "Dammit," he whispered, passing a hand through his hair. He watched the girl curl in on herself, holding her arms up over head in a feeble attempt to protect herself. Dean knew he should just leave and let Sam take care of this so he wouldn't end up scaring her even more, but he hated leaving her so terrified. "Hey, hey, it's okay." he comforted softly, shuffling backward to give her some space.

When no capture came, Em shakily looked up, and up, and up, into the green eyes of the human who loomed above her. She felt another jolt of fear as she held the gaze of this giant. She was vaguely aware that he was saying something, his voice a deep rumbling in her ears. Every instinct was on fire, screaming at her to _get away!_

Em brushed her brown hair away from her face and steeled herself for the worst. She always saw humans from a distance, keeping safely in the walls or in the abandoned rooms until they left, she had never been this close before. She knew humans were huge but she had never been on ground level with one towering over her, it was absolutely petrifying. She had to think of a way to get out of this.

Em tried to stand on her other foot, ready to run at a moment's notice, but yelped when pain shot up her leg. She lost her balance and started to fall over when she caught herself just in time to see a giant hand rushing towards her.

The small girl wasn't seeming to register anything Dean was saying to her. 'I'm probably just making it worse,' he thought with a frown, 'maybe I should just go get Sam…' before he could make his decision he heard the girl let out a cry of pain and watched as she started to tip over. His protective instincts took over and without thinking he reached forward to steady her.

Em let out a gasp at how fast the hand darted toward her. She tried to bat them away and unthinkingly shouted, "Get your huge sausage fingers away from me you giant creep!" The hand froze, and she froze, horrified by her outburst. It was definitely not a smart move to insult a giant, but she hated feeling this helpless. She silently cursed her snarky nature for showing itself in such a detrimental time. Her heart beat frantically in her chest as she waited for the worst, but was surprised to see the hand slowly retreat. A low chuckle came from above, making her look up.

His eyes had a hint of humor in them as he looked down at her. She met his gaze suspiciously, unsure why she wasn't caught in a crushing fist by now.

Dean chuckled again, "Alright, okay, look, my sausage fingers are gone." He held his hands up in the 'don't shoot' pose, raising his eyebrows up at her. The girl just glared at him in return so he slowly lowered his hands to rest on his lap.

Em watched his movements carefully, keeping a close eye on those hands. Okay, so he wasn't grabbing at her, _yet_. But he had already proved how fast he could be so he could strike at any moment. It was as if he was playing with her, knowing she had no means of escape, no possible hope to be able to get away from him before he caught her first. Her heart beat loudly in her ears, fear making it hard to concentrate. 'If you want to make it out of here alive you need to think, Em, not panic,' she thought to herself.

"Ah, so you uh, caught me." She shakily said, forcing herself to be loud so the human could hear her. "I'm a, uh… fairy." She saw him raise an eyebrow down at her. Maybe he was interested. This was literally the first plan that popped in her head. 'Oh god this better be convincing,' she thought. She straightened up, trying to look confident. "Yup, that's right a fairy. If you don't kidnap me, I can give you three wishes." A human would believe that right? Here he had stumbled across a small human like creature, first thoughts had to go to fairy, right? "But if you do kidnap me," Em tried to make her voice sound low and scary, her 'haunting' voice, "I will curse you and your whole family." Wow, that sounded so incredibly stupid even to her, but she had to hope it might work.

Dean gave her an incredulous look, a smile playing on his lips. "I thought it was Genie's that granted wishes?" He asked, humoring her.

God his voice was loud even when he was being quiet, it vibrated through her chest, making her knees quiver. "Um," Em blinked, trying to think, "no, all fey folk can…" Her voice tapered off, her stomach clenching as she realized there was no way he was buying this. She backed further into the corner to steady herself, time to cut to the chase, she was exhausted from being so strung up on high alert. "Alright fine, I'm not a fairy. Cut the crap on this cat and mouse game and just do what you're going to do!" She raised her chin defiantly and squared her slim shoulders.

The playful light left Deans eyes as the conversation took a turn for the worst. His gut clenched as he watched the fear crack through her confident armor as the small girl backed up against the wall. The urge to fix it coursed through him, he liked her already and hated that he was the one putting that fear in her eyes. "Wait, no," He said softly, "I'm not gonna hurtcha, I promise."

Em stared back up at him, noticing in his voice a hint of, was it regret? Concern? She shuffled uncomfortably under his gaze. "Yeah, sure, I _totally_ believe you." She bit out sarcastically before she could stop herself, again.

Dean sighed, his breath lightly tousling the girl's hair. "Look, I, um," he glanced around sheepishly, "I'm sorry I grabbed at you. It was instincts. My brother and I-," Dean saw her eyes widen at the mention of what she could only think of as another human. "No he's actually like you." He said quickly, watching her glare back up at him in disbelief. Man, he was not doing so hot. "It's a long story, he's around here somewhere, uh," He glanced around, not seeing Sam anywhere. 'Dammit Sammy where are you? I'm messing things up over here.' He glanced back down at the girl, feeling uncomfortable looming over her. He shifted to start lying down, but stopped when he saw her flinching back. "I'm just going to lay down here, is that okay?" He asked steadily.

Em paused, then nodded. She carefully watched as the human slowly adjusted his position so he was lying on his stomach and propped up on his forearms. She had to admit this was an easier way to look at him, though he was still so much taller than her even when he was lying down, but she didn't have to crane her neck back so far.

After getting comfortable, he began again. "I'm Dean, my brother's name is Sam…What's yours?" Dean asked softly, trying to get things under control.

Em glanced around, looking for another human, this brother, Sam, but thankfully she saw no one else. She caught the human's - Dean's – eye again, standing rigid at his gaze. "I'm Em," she answered cautiously.

"'M', like the letter?" Dean asked, eyebrows knitting in confusion. He tilted his head slightly to hear her better.

"N-no, EM, short for, you know, Emily." She replied, still uncertain of where this was going.

"Dean?" Came a call from the wall by the door.

Dean shifted over so he could see where Sam was while still keeping an eye on the frightened girl. He sighed in relief when he saw Sam making his way across the floor towards him, face worried.

"I heard some loud noises in here, is everything alright?" Sam eyed his brother in confusion, wondering why he was sprawled out on the floor. He didn't seem to be injured or in any trouble. Sam finally reached Dean's side, huffing a little from the long walk.

"Uh, not so much," Dean shifted so Sam could see past him to the corner where the small girl stood, her eyes widening in surprise to see someone else her size with a human.

"Oh," was all he could say. Well at least now he didn't have to go searching for whoever lived here.

"Oh," Dean echoed.

Sam slowly walked around Dean's arms and over to the girl who eyed him warily as he got closer. She looked like she was about 19 years old, her fear filled eyes were a deeper shade of green than Dean's, and her dark brown hair reached past her shoulders. "Hey, I'm Sam," he said, trying to keep his voice light. He knew she wasn't going to trust him yet since he was with a human, but he was sure that she would come around once she understood that she wasn't in any danger.

"I know." Em jutted her chin up towards Dean, "He told me. He said you guys were brothers?" Disbelief bled through her tone. She couldn't help it, there was no way this was possible, Sam was her size. He must have been caught at a young age and trained…But he acted so at ease around the human…and the – Dean – never really tried to catch her when he easily could've…She glanced back and forth between them and was able to recognize the slight similarities in their appearance. If it wasn't for the obvious difference in size they honestly could be brothers.

"Her name is Em," Dean told Sam helpfully, glad to have gotten that much information out of her. Other than that he had just been effectively, though in no way intentionally, scaring an innocent girl, but hopefully Sam could fix it.

Sam didn't take his eyes of the girl, "Em, that's a nice name." He was impressed by how tough she was being in her circumstance. "No, he wasn't lying, we are brothers, I got cursed by a witch a long time ago, making me this small. But I grew up with people my size, like you, until Dean found me again." She raised an eyebrow at him. "I know it seems crazy, trust me, we know. That's just the short version." He took another step closer to her. "Dean may seem scary, but trust me when I say he would never hurt you. Don't judge him too harshly because of his size."

Em glanced back and forth between the two brothers. Sam's soft brown eyes were filled with genuine concern, and Dean did seem upset about frightening her.

"If you want to leave, we won't stop you, right Dean?" Sam looked up at Dean, who nodded tersely in reply. "But maybe you can help us, we came here to find a ghost. Have you heard or seen anything strange here?"

Em felt a bubble of laughter erupt from her throat. Nerves. "I'm the ghost."

Both brothers stared at her in confusion.

"I mean, I'm not an _actual_ ghost, obviously." She wrung her hands together, a little nervous having both sets of eyes on her. "I just make it _seem_ like there's a ghost living here so it scares humans off."

"What?" Dean asked in surprise, making Em jump slightly, "Sorry," he said, lowering his voice before beginning again, "How do you do that?"

"I found out how to make the lights flicker by playing with the wires in the walls. I make scratching noises and stuff. And I, uh," She glanced over at the vent, her previous destination before all this happened, "make moaning sounds down that vent, and it echoes and makes it sound creepy. That usually drives people away. The longest humans have stayed here was for one night, tops." Em grinned proudly to herself. No human seemed to want to stay any longer than that, the eeriness of the house along with her ghost noises was enough to scare them away.

"That's so cool!" Sam exclaimed, making Em smile bigger. "So the lights flickering when we got here?"

"Me," Em replied with a grin.

Dean gave Sam a playful nudge with his finger. "That would explain why our EMF wasn't working," he said to Sam with a chuckle.

Sam regained his footing from the nudge and teasingly swatted back at Dean's finger. He noticed Em get a little tense from Dean's close interaction and tried to pull her out of her worry by focusing on his questions."How do you stay here by yourself though? Where do you get food?" He couldn't help but ask. Dean and Sam had come across a community of people like him living in the field at Bobby's, completely independent of humans. But here Em was all by herself, how could she do it?

"The lady who lived here before she died had a garden, so I was able to sneak outside and collect seeds. I've been growing my own in the walls of the attic, there's a spot where the light gets through and shines on the plants to keep them alive." It was lucky she planted when she did because shortly after her plants started producing fruits and veggies, the lady had died, leaving Em with little other food source. Em shivered thinking back on the day she went outside. The ordeal was frightening since she had to be wary at all times in case an unfriendly creature happened upon her, but in the end it was worth it.

Dean couldn't help but be blown away. This girl was living here all by herself, and doing a heck of a good job at it. He glanced down at the leg she was still careful not to stand on, suddenly remembering that he caused her to injure it. "How's your leg?" he asked, worry filling his eyes as he slowly gestured toward it. "Could we get a look at it?"

Em nodded but backed away slowly from the approaching hand, trying to push the panic away. So far neither brother had made any attempt to hurt her, and she was slowly starting to trust them. Still, the sight of such a large thing coming towards her that could easily just pluck her up against her wishes was scary. She tensed, feeling her stomach drop and her body go cold as she let the hand come closer.

With a light touch Em didn't even think was possible for such a large human, Dean gently pressed his pointer finger against her right side so she could lean her weight onto it without falling over while Sam approached to look at her ankle. He examined it closely, softly prodding the area to check for swelling.

Dean leaned in closer to watch, dread filling his stomach at the thought of her ankle being seriously injured because of him. He knew how important it was for someone their size to be healthy so they could run and climb in order to survive. He concentrated very hard at keeping his finger completely still so he wouldn't move her. Her thin frame was tense at first, but she slowly started to relax, gripping his finger gently as she watched Sam.

"It doesn't look too bad, just a light sprain." Sam placed her foot back down and smiled at her. Thank goodness it was just a small injury, not only would that be bad for her, but he knew Dean would never forgive himself if it was serious. "We can get you some ice, I'd say you should just rest it tonight and keep it elevated, alright?"

Relief flooded through Em, and she gave a big smile to Sam and Dean in return. "Thanks!" She adjusted her weight so she wasn't leaning on Dean anymore, and he slowly removed his finger. She looked back at Dean, blushing in embarrassment as she recalled their earlier conversation, "And, you don't have sausage fingers."

Sam gave them both a confused look as Dean chuckled above them, "Phew," He rumbled, jokingly letting out a relieved sigh, "thanks." He smirked and gave her wink.

Em was starting to calm down a bit. These guys weren't so bad, and it was nice to have someone to talk to after being alone for so long. "Are you both, um, staying here tonight?" Em asked.

The brothers looked at each other, then back to her. "If that's okay with the ghost," Sam said with a smile.

Em let out a laugh, "Yeah, the ghost is good with it."

* * *

~ _AN: poor Dean just couldn't catch a break! Luckily it all worked out. :D I hope people enjoy this story, I had a lot of fun writing it! It also helped me get back into the writing mood, so thanks for the contest nightmares06!_


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